A Durham Region police recruit has been killed in a crash near the Ontario Police College, and a second recruit was left in critical condition, according to police.
The Ontario Provincial Police say they are investigating the crash, which happened near the college in Aylmer, Ontario, where new officers train.
According to the OPP, the crash took place just before 11:30 in the morning, when the vehicle carrying the recruits collided with a transport truck.
Durham Region police have since released the identity of the recruit who was killed, confirming him as 27-year-old Tyrone Magbatang. The other recruit, a constable in training who is also from Durham, remained in hospital in critical condition, police said. Both had been heading to the college.
In a statement, the force paid tribute to Magbatang, remembering him as a compassionate, dedicated and service-driven individual, as it absorbed the loss of one of its own before he could formally begin the job. Durham Police Chief Peter Morera said the focus was on supporting the families of the recruits, along with their classmates, instructors and colleagues.
The circumstances of the collision remained under investigation, with the OPP working to determine exactly how the crash unfolded on the road near the training college.
In the days after the crash, the loss reverberated through the policing community. Hundreds of officers, along with the recruit's loved ones, lined the streets for a solemn police procession as his body was brought back to Toronto, a show of respect for a young man who had been just starting out in the profession.
Those who knew Tyrone Magbatang remembered him for his kindness and his commitment to helping others in the community. At 27, he had been a constable in training, and the tributes painted a picture of someone whose life and budding career were cut short just as he prepared to serve.
Magbatang was also known for his time in the ring. According to Shireen Fabing, who trains fighters out of the Kingsway boxing club and coached him, Magbatang once took part in a charity boxing fight to raise funds for cancer research, and won the fight of the night. What stayed with those around him, though, was what he did afterward: rather than simply celebrate, he reached over and raised his opponent's hand alongside his own, a gesture of sportsmanship that friends said summed up the kind of person he was.